An abstract that says nothing
This abstract comes from a recently published in an atmospheric science journal: Previous studies have shown that numerical diffusion plays a crucial role in the ability of mesoscale models to reproduce features similar to sub-meso motions found in observations, particularly in terms of spectral energy distribution. In this study, the impacts of surface heterogeneity and […]
Code of Conduct for Scientists Who Engage in Advocacy
The AAAS hosted a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation to address the issue of scientists expressing their opinions to influence an action, such as a political process. The results of this workshop can be downloaded from this web page. The bottom line is the Code of Conduct for Advocacy in Science by Nicholas […]
How much time do the academics spend reading the literature?
JISC Collections funded a study to examine the values of libraries to UK academics. The result “UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources: Summary Results of the Study Conducted Spring 2011” has been published. Here is a link to the PDF. From p. 8, “Of the 448 hours per year spent on scholarly […]
“Cold” equivalent potential temperature?
As scientists, we need to be precise in our writing. Evgeni Fedorovich at the University of Oklahoma has tried to keep me honest about writing about “cold temperatures”. Know that the air can be “cold” or “warm”, but temperatures are “high” or “low.” I want to take this argument one step further. It makes no […]
Past or Present Tense?
Which is correct? A. Wetzel et al. (2004) show a negative correlation between snow density and air temperature that explains 52% of the variance. B. Wetzel et al. (2004) showed a negative correlation between snow density and air temperature that explains 52% of the variance. The difference is that A uses the present tense “show”, […]
The importance of proper citation
Just recently I discovered a published article that neglected to cite the whole field of the topic that they were investigating. The article did have citations to the statistical methods and other papers that were related to their work, but not a single paper had been cited that had performed the same statistical analyses that […]
A Sharp Rise in Retractions Prompts Calls for Reform
May 20, 2012 Filed under Blog, Featured, Publishing
An interesting article from the New York Times about the sharp rise in retractions of published articles. Another blog post about the rise in the number of retractions and the responsible (irresponsible?) journals.
Baloney Detection Kit and brainpickings.org
This link from Bogdan Antonescu: The Baloney Detection Kit: A 10-Point Checklist for Science Literacy In fact, brainpickings.org has a lot of good posts about books, creativity, life, and writing. Enjoy surfing!
For want of a font
If you think following the rules isn’t important, then consider the fate of the 203,238 people who signed a Michigan petition to put a referendum on the ballot in November. The two Republicans on the Board of State Canvassers voted against allowing the referendum to proceed to the ballot, deadlocking the Board 2-2. The reason […]
Case studies: Do I need multiple cases to make my point?
My colleague Russ Schumacher and I have been discussing a paper that we want to write about banded precipitation along the Front Range of the Rockies. Russ has seen multiple events each winter, and the processes that produce these bands are not well understood, even though we have already written a couple of papers on […]
